The Norsta runestone is an 11th century runestone inscribed in Old Norse

Old Norse

Old Norse is a North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during the Viking Age, until about 1300....

 with the Younger Futhark

Younger Futhark

The Younger Futhark, also called Scandinavian runes, is a runic alphabet, a reduced form of the Elder Futhark, consisting of only 16 characters, in use from ca. 800 CE...

 that stands near Wik Castle

Wik Castle

Wik Castle is situated in the province of Uppland, Sweden....

 outside Uppsala

Uppsala

- Economy :Today Uppsala is well established in medical research and recognized for its leading position in biotechnology.*Abbott Medical Optics *GE Healthcare*Pfizer *Phadia, an offshoot of Pharmacia*Fresenius*Q-Med...

, Sweden

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

. It is notable because of the mention of two people named "maiden" and Sweyn. The form møy which appears on this runestone is the accusative form of Old East Norse māR which meant "maiden" and this is the only attestation of this word as the name of a girl, in Old Norse

Old Norse

Old Norse is a North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during the Viking Age, until about 1300....

, besides a mention in the Hervarar saga

Hervarar saga

Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks is a legendary saga from the 13th century combining matter from several older sagas. It is a valuable saga for several different reasons beside its literary qualities. It contains traditions of wars between Goths and Huns, from the 4th century, and the last part is used as...

, where a Mær ("maiden" in Old West Norse) married the Swedish king Inge I

Inge I of Sweden

Inge the Elder was a King of Sweden.-Biography:Inge was the son of the former King Stenkil and a Swedish princess. Inge shared the rule of the kingdom with his probably elder brother Halsten Stenkilsson, but little is known with certainty of Inge's reign...

. Her brother was Blot-Sweyn

Blot-Sweyn

Sweyn was a Swedish king c. 1080, who replaced his Christian brother-in-law Inge as King of Sweden, when Inge had refused to administer the blóts at the Temple at Uppsala. There is no mention of Sweyn in the regnal list of the Westrogothic law, which suggests that his rule did not reach...

, who succeeded Inge. As the runestone is from about the same time as Blot-Sweyn, it is likely that the Sweyn mentioned in the runestone is the same as the Swedish king Blot-Sweyn.

Transliteration

sihikþurn ' ... [risa * stin] ' uk ' bru ' kera : at : aterf : sun : uk ' a(t) ' mai : tutor : sin : eþorn : uk : suen : uk ' (u)ikþu-... ' sikb--... ...(R) ' isi

Transcription into Old Norse

Old Norse

Old Norse is a North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during the Viking Age, until about 1300....

Sigþorn ... ræisa stæin ok bro gærva at Adiarf, sun, ok at Møy, dottur sina, Æiþorn ok Svæinn ok Vigþo[rn] ... ...

Translation in English

Sigþorn ... the stone raised and the bridge made in memory of Ádjarfr, (his) son, and in memory of Mey, his daughter; Eiþorn and Sveinn and Vígþorn ..

Sources

• Sveriges runinskrifter, by Erik Brate (1922)
• Rundata
  Rundata
  The Scandinavian Runic-text Data Base is a project involving the creation and maintenance of a database of runic inscriptions. The project's goal is to comprehensively catalog runestones in a machine-readable way for future research...
  
  

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